


The Sway You Look Tonight

by Tiny_Tyrant



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dancing, Feel-good, First Kiss, Fluff, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), Love Confessions, M/M, Mentioned Adam (Voltron), Mentioned Krolia (Voltron), Multi, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 08 Finale, Slow Dancing, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 04:32:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16926558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiny_Tyrant/pseuds/Tiny_Tyrant
Summary: Saving the universe comes with the price of enduring dignitaries and small talk at fancy celebrations. Keith is very much out of his element and it's been a while since he's been able to exchange more than just a passing greeting to an increasingly busy Shiro. He'd pinned his hopes on being able to stick close to Shiro to avoid being alone in the crowd but it didn't work out quite like he planned.A feel good fic with friendships and a confession.





	The Sway You Look Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Since my pun loving gremlin brain took over for me on the title front, I'm hoping the fic doesn't feel at odds with the title. I just wanted to write Keith dancing so that's what I did. I hope you enjoy this. It was enjoyable to write and so so so self-indulgent that I'm not gonna even apologise.

Preventing the end of the universe as we know it should have excused him from the whole stuffy affair. He'd stood and received medals and did all of the formalities correctly but not even smiling for the cameras had spared him from being forced to mingle. It was a formal event to celebrate the end of the war, a gala of sorts. There were a lot of dignitaries from all over the world, and a few from galaxies much further away. Whilst he'd personally would have loved to sneak away from the event, the louder part of his brain had told him it was important to show a good image and be welcoming. He'd grown a little more used to the attention that being the head of Voltron brought but he still felt out of his depth.

Everywhere he looked there was a sea of people dressed to the nines. He felt like a five at best. Having his hair pulled back into a ponytail had helped him feel a little more dressed up but he still felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb. He had hoped to find Shiro but with so many people around it was difficult to find even his distinctive figure. Even if he did, there's always the chance he'd end up getting dragged away for some other business. He'd been so busy lately with the preparations for this event and the Atlas had been dividing his attention too. It felt like weeks since the last time he'd had quality time with his oldest friend.

He was currently drifting between groups. A conversation had turned a little strained after Keith had mentioned his mother and gestured to the tall, very obviously Galra, woman to a few dignitaries from previously occupied planets. Not even mentioning her work with the Blades had helped alleviate that tension there. He decided to cut his losses and announce he was going to grab a bite or two from the buffet. Sticking with that group felt pointless and he didn't have the time nor patience to unpack the racial tension there.

He'd passed Lance and Allura's group and the two were very clearly in their element. Allura was stood tall in her best dress, one Keith recognised from her previous diplomatic meetings. Lance was stood beside her with her arm linked through his and he was laying on his charm thick to their gathering and it worked. _Of course it did,_ Keith thought, people who think they're better than others love flattery. He overheard Lance talking about Allura's prowess in battle. Keith glanced at his face then and Lance's sincere adoration was obvious. Allura was taking it in her stride though, returning the compliment with equal sincerity and fondness.

Of all the things to have come out of the war, Keith's favourite thing was seeing the love that had blossomed between the pair. Lance was taking himself more seriously and Allura was very obviously proud of him. He couldn't have wished for anything better for the two of them.

As he drew nearer the buffet table, he was glad to see that he wasn't the only one out of his element. Hunk and Pidge had banded together in solidarity. They were happy to keep each other company, mostly keeping to themselves. He imagined things would be a little different if there were more Olkarion people here but, of those that were, they were also a little reclusive. A group of three of them had gathered with Sam Holt gladly talking about things that made Keith's head reel. He wondered if maybe Hunk and Pidge were just looking for a night off from that. The two of them were veritable geniuses so he couldn't blame them for wanting a moment where they could goof off. Hunk was very obviously talking about food, something he was passionate about, and Pidge was quietly listening as she kept him company and tried out the various things Hunk offered her.

Not wanting to intrude too much, Keith quietly edged near them, looking at the lavish spread of food. It was more varied than he anticipated. He didn't go unnoticed though.

“Oh hey, it's our fearless leader, hiding from boring conversation,” Pidge quipped with a shark-like smirk.

“Hey Keith!” Hunk grinned widely as he turned to look at the him. “This is kinda a big deal, huh?”

“We saved the universe. I guess the world needs a fancy thing like this to mark it,” Keith said with a grimace.

“It's not so bad. Give this a try,” Pidge suggested, holding a canapé to Keith's mouth. Without thinking too much about it he let Pidge put it in his mouth. He chewed it and made a startled sound. It was spicy. Seriously spicy. He finished chewing and swallowed, fanning his mouth afterwards. Pidge was gleefully cackling at his scrunched up face.

“Good huh?” She teased.

“Yeah but damn that's hot. It burns.” Keith coughed a few times, still feeling the burning on his lips and tongue.

Hunk laughed good-naturedly and patted Keith's shoulder before producing a bottle of water. “Here, this should help.”

Keith gratefully took the bottle and greedily drank some of the water, letting out a sigh of relief now the burning wasn't so intense. “Thanks, I owe you one.”

“How about a dance then? Pidge isn't a fan of dancing and honestly I could use a break from people trying to make small talk,” Hunk suggested.

“Sounds good.” Keith smiled as he handed the water back. “Let's dance but you're gonna have to lead. I'm not that good a dancer. Pretty sure I've never done that before, actually.”

“Sure, I can work with that,” Hunk said enthusiastically, passing off the water bottle to Pidge.

He took Keith's hand and reeled him in and onto the dance floor. The music was upbeat and there were plenty of people dancing together. Keith looked around nervously, getting a laugh from Hunk for it.

“You'll be fine; I'll look after you,” Hunk assured him, pulling Keith in closer. Keith looked up at Hunk, embarrassed.

“Where do I…?”

Hunk chuckled and adjusted Keith's hold for him. “Relax and just let me guide you.”

“Dunno if you noticed but I'm not so great at the 'relaxing' part but I'll try.”

“That's all I ask for!” Hunk grinned and started leading into a lively dance. Keith let out a little noise at the suddenness.

“A little warning next time would be great,” Keith grumbled.

“What would be the fun in that?”

Keith had to resist the urge to roll his eyes but Hunk seemed to notice the look on his face anyway. Grinning impishly and taking it in stride, Hunk led Keith across the dance floor. Hunk did a decent job in leading Keith. It got to the point where Keith was smiling as they glided over the floor. Moving across the dance floor felt easy and Hunk was gradually working his way through more complicated turns and spins so it seemed to come naturally.

“You're good at this. I'm actually enjoying myself,” Keith said with surprise after being reeled back in after another twirl.

“And you're not that bad a dancer. I guess that's the sword fighting training, huh?” Hunk's voice was teasing but Keith found he didn't mind that too much.

“It's not so hard to match your pace. You seem to be going easy on me anyway.”

“I wouldn't want to embarrass our great leader now, would I?”

“Only because you fear what kind of revenge I would exact on you.” Keith grinned.

Hunk laughed. “Yeah, maybe there's that.”

Keith laughed with him. “Well I'm glad at least one of you guys has the sense to fear consequences.”

“That's kinda, like, my whole thing. I don't mean to brag, ya know? You got your fierce bad-ass leader thing going on. Fearing consequences and various other things is my thing.”

Laughing again, Keith shook his head with fondness on his face.

They continued dancing with Hunk getting more bold with his dance moves and they chatted all the while. Keith learned that Hunk was taught to dance from his mom as well as a few other things about his family. Hunk was happy to share these snippets about himself as they danced. At one point Hunk dipped Keith, much to Keith's surprise and delight. Hunk lifted a laughing Keith back up and they continued on, unaware of their audience.

On the upper level, Shiro had been barely paying attention to the conversation he was part of since the moment he spotted Keith and Hunk dancing. He'd barely given them any mind at first and had focused on his conversation more to start with but, each time he glanced towards them, their smiles seemed to be wider and more carefree. It warmed his heart to see the two paladins having fun at such a stuffy event. Listening to suggestions for repair and relief efforts were dull in comparison and he felt a twinge of envy on looking at them. However he was here in uniform and he had a duty to listen and to engage with his party. His efforts were thwarted the moment he heard Keith laughing loudly and he turned his head to see Hunk pulling Keith up from a low dip. He had to get away from this conversation as soon as he could manage.

“Is something the matter, Shiro?” Coran asked him gently. Despite the soft tone, Shiro was still a little startled and he noticed how Coran looked over to where Shiro had been looking. “Ah, someone in particular on your mind then I take it?”

“N-No I–” Shiro stuttered. Coran raised an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. “Okay, yeah there is but this is important. I shouldn't be selfish.”

Coran leaned in close to talk privately to Shiro. “Hmm, is it though? There'll more than likely be several meetings where we'll discuss things like this. Sure, it's probably polite that we listen to them now but we both know the relief efforts will take a lot more time to finalise than a conversation over this champagne stuff at a gala. I'll handle this so go have some fun. I'd say you've more than earned a break from this anyway.” He pulled back and gave Shiro a conspirational wink and a gentle nudge with his elbow.

“Thanks Coran,” Shiro said gratefully.

“Hey, any time. Besides, I actually love talking about things like this. Would I rather be tinkering with a battleship's engine? Sure, but this comes as a close second. Or third… My point is that I know I'm much happier here than you are.” He gave Shiro an encouraging smile before turning his attention back to the group. “My good friend, Shiro here, will be leaving us for now but I'll be sure to answer whatever questions you have for him to the best of my abilities.”

“Thank you for your time,” Shiro said politely to the group and bowed his head before stepping out from the circle.

He weaved his way through the crowds down to the lower level. A few people greeted him on the way down but Shiro only acknowledged them with polite nods for fear of being drawn into another long-winded conversation.

Eventually he reached the edge of the dance floor and with some trepidation he worked his way over to the two paladins. Not knowing how to approach them, he stood a little distance away, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Fortunately for him, Hunk was the one to spot him there. Without saying anything to Keith, Hunk quickly winked at Shiro and danced with Keith towards him. Once they were only a few feet away, Hunk dipped Keith deeply to the point where even Keith was a little nervous.

“Whoa buddy, are you gonna drop me?” Keith asked, voice a little shaky.

“If he does, I think I could manage to catch you,” Shiro spoke up.

Keith gasped and Shiro thought he might've imagined the delight in his voice. He looked at Shiro from his prone, upside-down position. “Shiro! Hi.”

“Hey Keith,” Shiro returned warmly. He turned his attention to Hunk, awkwardness returning in full. “Uh, may I have this dance?”

Hunk chuckled and pulled Keith back up to his feet. “Sure thing, I think I'd rather continue this dance with Shay, no offence Keith. But since she's not here right now canapés and geek talk await me.”

“None taken?” Keith looked puzzled as he walked over to Shiro.

“See you later guys.” Hunk gave a wave before heading back to where he'd left Pidge.

Keith turned to face Shiro and set his hand on Shiro's shoulder.

“You looked like you were having fun,” Shiro said with a fond smile and set his hand on Keith's waist, pulling him in a little closer. Keith slipped his other hand into Shiro's hold.

“I was. Were you jealous?” Keith teased as they started dancing. Shiro hadn't danced in years so he wanted to take it slow as he found his footing. He also felt the nervous bubble in his stomach that only got worse with having Keith so close to him.

“Of you having fun? No, I just felt like I needed to join in.” Shiro could handle banter. Banter was comfortable, familiar territory.

Keith smiled and relaxed into the dance and Shiro took the cue to pick up the pace a little. “So you were jealous of something then? Don't think I don't know when you're dodging something.”

His tone was light and teasing and Shiro had to fight to keep the blush off his face. “Maybe I'm dodging it for a good reason.”

“Maybe.” Keith grinned. “I think you don't have a good enough reason though.”

Shiro's eyebrows raised. “Since when did you learn to read my mind?” He asked him, amusement in his tone.

“Since it was written all over your face.”

Not knowing what to say to that straight away, Shiro twirled Keith away to buy a little time for a retort. His face was flushed pink though and he pulled Keith back in. Keith's hand braced against Shiro's chest as he came back in a little off-balance. Keith looked up with the beginnings of an apology on his lips but, seeing Shiro so happy yet so flustered, he figured he'd better stay quiet while Shiro gathered his thoughts. He moved his hand back to Shiro's shoulder and danced with him in silence. The song changed to something with a slower tempo.

“I wasn't jealous of you,” Shiro spoke up after a moment after pulling Keith in a little closer for a slow dance. “I was a little jealous of Hunk though.”

“Really?” Keith looked confused.

“Yeah… I guess I really wanted to dance with you,” Shiro said with a shrug.

“I didn't really take you for a dancer.”

“I'm not much of one but Adam showed me a thing or two. I didn't really get the appeal until I saw you with Hunk.”

Keith looked at him, scrutinising him for a moment. Shiro felt his face burning and he averted his eyes, not wanting to know what Keith was reading on his face right now. There was a disgruntled huff from the younger man before Shiro felt Keith resting his head against Shiro's shoulder.

“Dancing with Hunk was fun but honestly I was just hoping to spend some time with you. I'm not very good at… being in places like this. There's just too many people,” Keith admitted.

“I get it,” Shiro murmured. “So I'm not grouped in with the 'too many people' thing?”

“You and the rest of the gang, but especially you. I don't need to take a break from spending time with you.”

Shiro felt a warm rush of affection on hearing that. He barely restrained himself from kissing the top of Keith's head. Instead he buried his nose into Keith's hair and held him just a little tighter.

“You okay there?” Keith asked softly.

“Yeah I– Yeah.” Shiro laughed. “I'm actually kinda proud of that, is that weird?”

“Not that weird, probably. But what do I know? I'm half alien.”

Shiro laughed again, lifting his head to look at Keith. Keith felt the movement and met his eyes. “Well, when you think about it, only my consciousness is from Earth and the arm. This body is from space.”

“Y'know I never really thought about it that way.” Keith laughed. “We're both weird.” 

A grin spread across Keith's face and Shiro's heart skipped a beat or several. The rush of affection returned and Shiro could've sworn it made him dizzy. He could feel heat prickling at his face and ears so Shiro looked somewhere over Keith's shoulder, eyes lowered.

“We are,” Shiro agreed.

Keith, not one to miss much, noticed the sudden interest in looking anywhere but at himself. He opened his mouth to comment on it. Looking again at Shiro made him hesitate though. Normally Shiro wasn't one to fluster easily so Keith figured it was probably better to let him recover. He returned to his previous position of resting his cheek against Shiro's chest and he let his eyes close. He could almost pretend they were the only two people in the room this way.

“You okay there?” Shiro asked eventually, mirroring Keith's question from before. Keith could feel the rumble of his voice through the dress uniform jacket against his cheek.

“Yeah, just enjoying this, the peace,” Keith answered, not budging from his position. “You wanna take a break from dancing?”

“No!” Shiro all but blurted. The suddenness of the reply startled Keith. “I mean if you wanna take a break I don't mind.”

“I am taking a break.” The reply was given with a teasing laugh. “You can't get rid of me that easily.”

Shiro laughed at that. “I think we've proven that to the universe several more times than most. Alright, we'll stay here.”

“Good, there's nowhere I'd rather be.”

“If you keep saying things like that, I might read too much into it.” Shiro tried to play off the surge of emotion that came with Keith's words as a joke but froze up when Keith looked at him. They stood motionless on the dance floor for a few ticks that seemed to stretch on.

“I um…” Keith started and frowned when the words wouldn't come out. He took a breath and tried again. “I'm serious. I like this– us, like this. I uh… Shit, why can't I find the words?”

Shiro let go of Keith's hand to place it on Keith's shoulder. Keith's face reddened.

“Keith,” Shiro spoke up, his voice only just loud enough to be heard over the music. “You wanna talk about it? We could find somewhere more private if you want.”

The relief on hearing there was no judgement in Shiro's voice coursed through him yet Keith wasn't sure he'd even be able to put words to what he was feeling right now. It was all a mess in his head.

“Can we talk about this later?” Keith asked, voice small and his hunched shoulders made him even smaller. “I'd rather we just kept on dancing for now.”

“We can do that,” Shiro agreed.

Just like that he held Keith in his arms and they resumed dancing. There was still tension in Keith's shoulders and Shiro hoped he could at least ease that a little bit. He kept Keith close to him. Kept his arm firmly against the small of Keith's back. It took some time for Keith to begin to relax and Shiro let out a breath in relief once he finally did. He didn't bother second-guessing himself as he buried his nose into Keith's hair again.

“I like this too, by the way,” Shiro told him. “It's been hard trying to find an excuse to leave and find you earlier. Coran helped me out the moment he realised I'd been watching you and Hunk. It does make me wonder if I'm that obvious though.”

Keith angled his head up so he could see Shiro's face and let out a soft laugh at the flushed, pouting look on Shiro's face. For a fully grown man, he could look quite childish sometimes.

“Well Coran's the definition of a good guy. I don't know what exactly he saw 'cos I was kinda busy dancing at the time but, if that look on your face right now is anything to go by then yes, you're very obvious.” Keith teased him.

“I am not!” Shiro protested, his blush completely belying the fact.

“Sure,” Keith drawled sarcastically. “Yeah I believe you.”

“Good to know you have so much faith in me, Keith,” Shiro returned with a drawl of his own. “I didn't think I was that obvious but…”

“Relax Shiro, it's probably only because Coran knows you so well. You've been working with him a lot on the Atlas. He's known you for years too.” Keith's efforts at reassuring him didn't go unappreciated if the slight smile he got for those words were anything to go by. “Also if I didn't know how to get under your skin after all these years then I've been wasting my time.”

Shiro laughed at that, feeling more confident. His smile wavered after a tick though. “Still… I thought I'd been professional enough.”

“Professional enough?” Keith echoed. Confusion was written all over his face.

Shiro cleared his throat and averted his gaze, sweeping over the people around them. “I… don't know how you're gonna take this so I just need a moment.”

Anxiety twisted in his gut. He didn't want to know how much of that showed on his face when he briefly glanced at the man in his arms.

Keith's look softened a little and he held Shiro a little tighter. “Hey, you know I'm not gonna react badly, don't you?”

Shiro let out a humourless laugh. “I wouldn't be so sure about that.”

“Shiro, I'm serious.”

“So am I. Keith, I–” he took a steadying breath–“I've started looking at you differently. Well it's been quite some time now actually. I don't know if you've noticed but I've been trying to keep a professional distance between us. Honestly, I don't want to ruin this with my feelings so I've been pulling away.”

“With those bullshit Atlas calibrations?” Keith looked incredulous and Shiro felt like maybe he deserved that ire. “Is that what that was about? And you, at this party, you were trying to hide from me?”

“No I– I mean, yeah but–”

Keith stopped in his tracks, pulling the brakes on their dance. Distressed, Shiro frantically tried to get a read on Keith's face. He was pissed off, that much was obvious, but he hadn't raised his voice all that much. The floor could have vanished from underneath him for all Shiro knew. It certainly felt that way.

“Please hear me out,” Shiro pleaded.

He heard Keith take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Some of the anxiety in him ebbed at that but he still wasn't sure where he stood.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have blown up at you like that.” Keith's apology was quiet but sincere.

“Well you were always passionate,” Shiro joked, trying to lighten the mood. “Thank you, I promise this will make sense in the way that I tend to overthink things and then panic kind of way.”

“I'm pissed off, not unreasonable,” Keith huffed. “It's hard to remember that sometimes though.”

Shiro offered him a faint smile. He raised a hand to the side of Keith's face and stroked his gloved thumb over the scar there. “I'm trying to say that I've been desperately attracted to you for some time now. I thought I had it under control but this isn't just some fleeting crush so I panicked.”

“And you started putting the distance between us. I guess that makes sense but, Shiro, _I've missed you._ ” Keith thumped his chest with his fist.

The blow didn't hurt, it was more of an expression of frustration anyway. It made Shiro's heart twinge though.

“I know, I'm sorry,” Shiro apologised.

Keith thumped him again before dropping his head against Shiro's chest. “Don't you dare pull that shit again,” he growled. Shiro gathered his arms around Keith, hugging him close.

“I won't,” Shiro promised.

“Good. Now you'd better shut up and kiss me before I run out of patience.”

“Uh, what?” Shiro didn't believe his ears.

It's only when Keith gripped the front of his jacket and rose to his toes to kiss him that it actually registered. His hold on Keith had gone slack with shock before but he nearly crushed Keith to him once he got over it. He kissed him with the passion he hadn't been allowing himself for months now. It was like a dam had burst and all the affection, all the love, had come flooding out of him. He could hardly believe that Keith was returning that with the same intensity. He lost himself for that moment, indulging in the warmth and the passion of the man in his arms. Dimly he could hear a few voices around them cheering and that sobered him up quickly.

Blushing something fierce, he pulled back and glanced at the crowd around them. Keith was looking at him with a smile so radiant he felt his heart might stop.

“Woo! Get it Shiro!” They heard Lance call out from across the dance floor.

 _“Lance!”_ Shiro tried to reprimand him but Keith started laughing, setting Shiro off too.

“Later, big guy, we'll deal with him later,” Keith promised once he'd calmed enough to get the words out. “Now I believe we were dancing.”

“Yeah, I believe we were.”


End file.
